Final Wolf Hall Installment Delayed

Hilary Mantel has said that the third and final book in her bestselling Wolf Hall series, The Mirror and the Light, will be delayed. Significantly, Mantel has been awarded the Booker Prize for each of her previous two books in this series: In 2009 for Wolf Hall, and for Bring Up the Bodies in 2012. Fans are understandably impatient for round three. From The Guardian:

The book may not appear until 2019, said Mantel, who denied that her failure to finish the novel to schedule was a sign of reluctance to write about Cromwell’s execution in July 1540. “People ask me if I’m having trouble killing off Thomas Cromwell. No, why would I?”

Fear of disappointing fans of the trilogy appears to be the main cause of her slow progress on the novel, which will cover the period from Anne Boleyn’s execution in 1536 to Cromwell’s fall from power four years later. “It is 10 years’ worth of effort and it is lovely to have the encouragement of people who are waiting for it, but that’s why I want to deliver them something that is the very best,” she said.